Colorado Rapids vs LA Galaxy: Postgame Quotes

Pablo Mastroeni, Colorado Rapids Head CoachOn how all the players did today:
Everyone that stepped in did a great job. I think Vicente is a game changer. Marlon had a great 45 minutes in his debut, and really fit in well. A lot of great performances all over the field but more importantly the collective mindset that we weren’t going to give up. We overcame the penalty kick, and obviously you’ve got to have the brace to win anything. I think today we made the best of our situation and the hand we were dealt.

On Chris Klute’s performance after switching to the right side:
I think Chris did a really good job. He’s comfortable on either side and I think he made a few key stops there at the end and really shut down that side of the field. The guys in front of him did a pretty good job making it predictable for him but I think overall that whole back line did a really good job of keeping the game in front.

On what factors come into his decisions:
Short week, form, fatigue. Turf last week, performance last week, game Wednesday, game the following Sunday, everything goes into it. Go look on our board – we’re planned out six weeks out. There is a lot of thought that goes into all of this and it’s important for us to have a collective mindset in the way we want to approach the game and the way we want to play. And that way when people have to step in, they’re comfortable doing so and I think the guys that stepped in today did a remarkable job rebounding from last weekend’s performance.

On the mindset he encourages in the team:
You basically come in and you say “I want you to stop thinking about the game of soccer the way you’ve ever thought about it, and I want you to think about it this way.” And not once, not seven days a week, every day you go home, when you’re in bed thinking about the game, preparing for the game, when you’re out on the field. The way you approach it. I’m asking everyone in this locker room to do things that no one has ever asked them before and that’s going to take some time. I think the gritty performances that we’ve put forth this year is something to build on. As the time goes on and guys get more comfortable, now it’s about how do we put that game away in the first half. A lot of good chances. How do we do that. That’s the next step. For me the focus , beyond the results, beyond all this stuff, is the mentality that you approach the game with, the mentality that you come to training with every day. And I think today was nothing more than a mindset.

On Deshorn Brown’s coming so close to scoring:
It’s a tough game. Sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t. For most forwards, goals come in bunches. I think Deshorn will reap the benefits of his work. The guys up front really worked their tails off on both ends of the ball and I think they deserve more. But it’s the game of soccer, it’s fickle. It doesn’t owe you anything, you’ve got to go out and get it. So we’ll just keep working on that and build off of a good performance.

On if Vicente’s goal was an intended shot:
100 percent. He’s a class player. He’s a guy that knows what he’s doing two or three steps before anyone else does. That’s why he’s had the kind of career he’s had. That’s why when talking to some of the guys from LA they’re saying “Who’s that shifty player that you brought in?” and I didn’t bring him in. He’s been here and we’re just thankful to have a player of his caliber and his leadership. But his ability to make the different in the game, and the first half, I think he’s an important piece to the dynamic movement of the team moving forward.

Drew Moor, Colorado Rapids defenderOn the game overall:
It was frantic at times, especially moments in the second half. We stayed organized and just really showed a lot of character and gut to come out with three points in this one.

On the second LA shot that he cleared off the line:
It just happened so quickly. I knew that Keane was going to look for Donovan so I tried to get inside of him. Fortunately I was able to and I was just stretch as far as you can. I didn’t know who was behind me, and I knew they had some guys running in behind, I just did all I could to get anything on it. Fortunately it was on just the right side of the post.

On Vicente Sánchez’s goal:
I think if it had missed the post I would have been there. But it kind of all happened slowly actually. I think I was probably the closest one to it. It was either go put my head into the post or... I could tell before I had to do that that it was going to in. It was a fantastic shot, cross, whatever it is. You look for the back post and hope for runners going in and the touch that he put on it was absolutely fantastic . it was a great goal.

On the changes in the back line:
Obviously we’ve had some rotation all over the field. I thought we did well, I thought we were organized. It really shouldn’t matter who’s in there, or what positions we’re playing. We train for it, we all get on the same page, and I think we showed tonight that we can bounce back from a tough game and get three points when we need to.

Chris Klute, Colorado Rapids defenderOn being back from injury:
The first two, especially the first game was definitely a come-back just to kind of get my rhythm back. And the second game I was trying to get my fitness back. And this game I was just getting comfortable.

On switching over to right side:
I pretty much played center back, left back, right back, all my life. It really wasn’t much of a difference, just how I approach my game is a little different. But it was fine. I was playing right back when I was with the Atlanta Silverbacks so I’m very comfortable there.

On being part of the attack:
My first thing is defend first, and if I get the opportunity to go forward, I go forward. The first couple of games, fitness wasn’t quite there so I was a little iffy about going forward all the time because my job is to defend. This game, at home, you kind of want to jump on them as much as you can so that was the game plan – to go forward as much as I can. I don’t really have a preference. Today right back was fun. I drill with my left foot so I got to go inside more, and I’m a little more comfortable with that. Whatever they need me I’ll play.

On his mindset against players like Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan:
We just played Seattle last week and they had good forwards too. But we have a game plan for players like that. We just stay organized and keep to the plan. That’s the back four – we’ve got to be together if we’re going to defend.

Marlon Hairston, Colorado Rapids midfielderOn making his MLS debut:
I thanked the coaching staff for giving me the opportunity. It was a dream come true for me to get my first start of my career against a great team. It was a great fight from the team tonight. We came out prepared. Pablo made sure of that from the beginning of the week and it was a great result for us. We have two more games this week and hopefully we get a couple more results.

On the collision he suffered that took him out of the game:
I just passed my concussion test so as of now I’m feeling a lot better. I’m just going to take it day by day and hopefully things don’t get worse. I kind of blacked out for a couple of seconds when I collided with the goalie. I was a little dizzy in the beginning but now it’s just a pain on the side of my head, but I’m feeling fine.

On Pablo’s advice to him before the game:
He told me to go out and be confident. That’s what he tells all the young players, just to go out and play like he knows that we know how to. Each training session he sees what we’re capable of, and we just go out and try to not overcomplicate things and just bring a great effort. That’s all he asks from us, and it was a great effort from the guys.

On if he considers himself as a distributor of the ball:
Just like any of the other guys, you’d rather have the ball so you don’t have to chase the game as much and save as much energy as possible. But since I’ve been here, the club has continued to get better and better at that, and when we have the ball we create a lot going forward.